The Uchiha Restoration
by Dr. Breifs Cat
Summary: As Sasuke faces the uncomfortable task of restoring his clan, Sakura faces the equally uncomfortable prospect of marriage without love.
1. Indecent Proposal

**The Uchiha Restoration**

                Oftentimes, he would awake from slumber with a slight fever and phantom pains where his neck met his shoulder.  If his mind was particularly clear, he would get a tall glass of cool water and return to bed with an extra blanket once he'd finished it.  When he awoke again, hours later, he felt more or less normal and was apt to not think of the pain and fever until it happened again.  If his mind was troubled, he would lay awake, sweating and convulsing until dawn, and spend the rest of the day brooding over his fate.

                A chuunin at nineteen years of age, he was, unfortunately, more than a little transparent to his closest companions.  Though missions together were sparse these days, non-existent, really, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto—a jounin, and Haruno Sakura—a chuunin teacher at the village's ninja academy, formed a close-nit group when their respective schedules allowed it.  Though it was just a close friendship that the three of them still shared to Naruto and Sakura, Sasuke depended on what they represented to him to not fall once again into the total despair that had consumed him when they were children.  They'd pulled him away from his personal hell, condemnation and the murderous rage in his own soul.  He still brushed them off as annoyances in their enthusiasms and rituals, but they were his important comrades and he would rather die than lose them.

                And they knew him and he knew them very well, so when Sasuke arrived at the Ichiraku counter at 6:45 on a Thursday evening, as was the trio's custom, unconsciously rubbing his neck, Naruto and Sakura hardly had to cast a glance at him to know something was troubling him.  Such a thing was only an occurrence the day after the echoes of Orochimaru's curse seal kept him awake at night.  And it only kept him awake when something else was bothering him.

                Outwardly, Naruto paid no heed as Sasuke dropped onto the stool at his left, and dropped the usual number on coins on the table.  He always ordered Oriental Ramen, no one who worked at the stand asked him what he wanted anymore.  Nearly as soon as he sat down and paid, a steaming bowl of noodles was in front of him.  He snapped his chopsticks, muttered a low thanks, and began to eat.  Beside him, Naruto slurped Miso Ramen, half listening to Sakura's story about the day's class, half wondering what was wrong with Sasuke _this_ time.  He knew the reason Sakura kept talking was to make sure there was no break in conversation for him to ask.  Sasuke, was, essentially, the most screwed-up person Naruto had ever met—which says a lot coming from a young man with a demon sealed in his belly button.  Over the years, the trio and their former mentor Kakashi, should he be around, had dealt with what would seem every possible issue a person could have, from turning evil, to being betrayed, to a downright disturbing hatred of fermented beans.

                Sure, Sasuke was a private person, but even he would crack under the constant onslaught of 'What's wrong?' from un-private people.  So, Naruto knew that eventually, it would all come out and couldn't see why Sakura refused to let it come out now.  Sakura had her own reasons, stemming from something she'd developed working with children: a little virtue generally known as 'tact.'  She, like Naruto, was not about to let Sasuke continue be haunted by whatever was going on today, but she was also not going to torture him with it in public.  The three could talk later, elsewhere.

                The meal passed without anyone but Sakura saying a word.

                This trend continued after they were finished as well.  "Ino-chan gave me a flower arrangement she made today.  It's really something; you guys should come over and see it."  Sakura could see plainly that neither guy cared, but since that wasn't really why she was inviting them over, she didn't really care.  She seized one of each boy's hands, griped it tightly, and guided them to her apartment.

                It was a small, sparse suite of rooms that Sakura had only moved into a few months ago, after she and her parents and come to the conclusion she was old enough to have her own place, responsible enough to take care of it, and had done enough since becoming a true shinobi to merit it.  Sakura hadn't lived there long enough to make it her own yet, so Ino, her once and current best female friend, and in Sakura's opinion, Konoha village's most talented spy, was often giving her little hand-made knickknacks, like flowers, to make it more inviting.

                "There it is, see?"  Sakura said, gesturing to the newest bouquet after ushering her guests inside.  Naruto, whose knowledge of plants wasn't modest, was all the same rather unimpressed.  Sasuke just plain didn't care and rubbed his neck.  

                That was all it took before the two verbally pounced on the Uchiha survivor, sending him a barrage of questions he couldn't hope to defend against, and was forced to submit, somewhat like a trapped animal.   He just listened, taking in the questions, counting how many times they repeated themselves, and the stares, alternately concerned and accusing.  So, they'd noticed him rubbing his neck, and the curse seal.  The behavior was such a second nature to him now that he didn't notice anymore, though now that it had been brought to his attention, he imagined he must have been doing it all day.  Mentally, he scolded himself for the lack of self-awareness.   This was his first day back in the village after a three-day mission, where it could have been a danger to himself and his teammates.

                Naruto and Sakura had stopped talking and were now staring at him, expectantly.  Oh, he had to say something now.

                He decided to answer their questions with a question of his own.  "How many times do we have to go through this before you two realize Orochimaru's curse-seal is never going to go away?"

                All that accomplished was the two of them to start going at it again, which was fine with Sasuke because that way, he would have more time before he needed to answer them again.  If he told them he didn't know what was going on, they wouldn't have believed him.  Unfortunately, it was true.  He couldn't quite put his finger on it, which, while annoying, was a refreshing change.  In the past, when something was bothering him, Sasuke knew far too acutely what it was.  This current problem was going to require some mediation and reflection on his part to figure out exactly what it was, which would be difficult to find the time for once he was assigned another mission.

                Naruto would not accept that answer.  He kept everything on the surface and expected others to do so as well.  The idea that a person could be troubled, yet not know what was troubling them would be ridiculous to Naruto.  Underneath it all, his subconscious was probably rather maladjusted, which wouldn't be remotely surprising considering he had two beings living in his body and sharing his brain.

                Sakura would not accept that answer.  She would look at him with great big puppy eyes and say that she was just _worried_ about him, and couldn't he see that they _cared_ about him and why did he insist on _keeping_ things from them?  If she thought he was lying, which she would, Sakura would be hurt.  Aside from being a close friend, Sasuke was the first boy she ever loved and those two put together counted for quite a lot.

                When the time came that Sasuke was expected to speak again, he said, "I don't have any answers for you, or for myself.  It's not important.  It hasn't affected my performance on missions," anticipating what would follow, he added, looking at Sakura, "so don't worry."

                It backfired, naturally.

                "Don't tell me not to worry!" Sakura fumed.  "If that curse-seal starts affecting you during a mission, you could die!  What if it takes control of you?  Or does something to your charka during a battle?  Or—"

                "Stop it, Sakura," he said harshly.  "It has no more reason to do any of those things.  It's just a phantom pain, a memory."

                "You stop it, Sasuke," Naruto interjected.  "Quit pretending the stupid curse doesn't bother you.  It's not like you have to push yourself anymore.  You got your revenge.  Act like a normal person."  Scowling, Sasuke left, the door frame trembling from the force he used to slam it.  Naruto shrugged at Sakura's bewildered expression.  "We're all thinkin' it.  Someone had to say it."

                Inwardly, Sakura had to admit Naruto was right.  Outwardly, she told him to leave.

~*~*~

                The worst part of the whole episode, Sasuke reflected later, from the confines of his own home, was that Naruto was right.  Since the day he found his parents murdered, Sasuke devoted his life to being an Avenger.  Nothing else mattered.  He lived for it, would go to any lengths for it, did go to the worst of lengths.  But Itachi had been dead for a long time, and Sasuke still thought of himself as an Avenger.  Kill the man who killed his clan.  Restore his clan.  

                He had plenty of strength to obtain jounin status, but he didn't care to try, just like he didn't care when he was made a chuunin.  Names and ranks didn't mean a thing to him, only strength.  But he'd been strong enough for years.  His vendetta was accomplished.  He should start caring.  He should want to be a jounin.  Naruto was a jounin and Naruto was his rival.  Shouldn't he at least want to best him?

                The man who killed his clan was dead.  Burned to ashes.  Scattered to the wind.

                Kill the man who killed his clan.  Restore his clan.

                Becoming a jounin would begin to restore the reputation of the Uchiha clan.  He should, at least, want that.  But, he asked himself, wouldn't that serve only me, and not the entire clan?  And he would be forced to answer himself: I am the entire clan.  

                The only Uchiha.

                The reason he couldn't move on came to him then, and he wondered why it took him so long to realize.  Ever since he had been a child, his ambition was to restore his clan.  He had yet to fulfill that goal.  Orochimaru's curse-seal was nothing that was unimportant.  It was just the easiest way to tell himself that he still had work to do.  He had been young when Itachi died, too young to think about how he could go about creating clan members.

                He realized with some embarrassment, this was no longer the case.  To restore the clan fully would take several generations.  He probably wouldn't even live to see half of portion of town that belonged to his family line occupied.  But did have to start with him, him and someone else.

                The idea that he would have to ask a woman to marry him and bear his children was not one that Sasuke relished.  He'd never paid much attention to the opposite sex, though they had always paid a lot of attention to him.  They were all insufferable around him, except Sakura, and that was only because she only saw him as a friend now.  

                The odd thing was, Sasuke couldn't see himself approaching a girl other than Sakura.  She chased him for years, asking him out, trying to take care of him when he was injured, and always, always tried to help him.  Her feelings grew steadily from the time they were assigned to Team 7, through the missions and the exam and his abandonment of the leaf-ninjas.  She pulled him back from Orochimaru.  And yet, somewhere, something plateaued.  And then, her romantic feelings slowly ebbed away..just friends.  He was happy with that.  It made him more comfortable around her.

                Regardless, he imagined what he was had to do would be uncomfortable no matter what happened.

~*~*~

                Friday afternoon, the twenty-seven ninja cadets of class 1-C were instructed to leave their papers face-down at their places before they left for the day.  Sakura walked up and down the isles, retrieving the assignments.  The kids hated graphing kunai throwing-projections and in battle there was no time to do the calculations, but Sakura wasn't about to let the kids go without math.  It was a simple life skill, even ninjas, after all, had to balance the budget.  Aside from that, it served many other purposes—the kids knew which way the wind blew and how much the throwing blade weighed made a difference when you aimed and threw.  It showed which kids were the book-smart ones like she had been, which in turn was important when she split the children into three-man cells.  It showed which kids were able to do what was required and do it well, an important ninja skill.

                When the papers were collected, Sakura filed them to grade them on Sunday.  That done, she gathered her bag and grade book and exited the school.  It was a nice day and a few of her students were clustered around the tree-swing, chatting and taking turns to see who could pump the highest.  It'd been a school legend for as long as she could remember that anyone who could swing all the way around the tree branch would graduate their first year.  Kids who actually did rarely graduated at all, as they hit the other branches, broke a few bones, fell back to the ground and usually dropped out of school at the behest of their parents.  Kids that stupid would get killed on their first mission, even if it was just finding a lost pet.  They couldn't even look far enough to see the rest of the tree.

                Still, seeing the kids clustered around the swing on such a nice day was not rare by any means.  What was rare was seeing Uchiha Sasuke a few feet away, watching the playing children.  Sakura smiled.  When they had been in school, he never joined any games, never just hung out.

                "Hi, Sasuke-kun!" she called, waving to him.  She jogged over to him and started laying in the guilt trip.  "I'm really sorry about yesterday and I'm sure Naruto is, too.  We know how hard things are for you and we really just want to help.  Whatever it is, you can tell us.  And if you don't want to tell us, well, that's okay, too.  Just remember, we're here for you."  She gave him a misty smile.  _Take that, she thought._

                Sakura watched Sasuke's expression carefully.  If Round One didn't make an impact, there was always Round Two, and so on and so forth.  However, he seemed satisfied with what she said and Sakura was doubly caught off-guard.  She hadn't thought so much of it when she first saw him, but he sought her out and now seemed as though he anticipated what she was going to say, even wanted her to say it.  So, he was being crafty.  _Well_, Sakura thought, _I can out maneuver him any day._  

                "You've always just wanted to help me," Sasuke replied in a low voice.  "But my goals were my own.  I didn't want to involve anyone else."  He walked as he spoke, hands in his pockets, head facing straight in front of him.  Sakura walked by his side, keeping up with his pace and trying to analyze his words.  There was a point to this, that much was clear.  Sakura wasn't sure any longer that she could out-fox Sasuke, but she at least wanted to figure out where taking this.  Maybe, she realized with a jolt, he was looking for a favor.  She never would have seen that coming.

                "What would you say if I asked for your help now?"

                Then again, maybe she did.

                "Of course I'd help you, Sasuke-kun.  I've always been there for you, whether you wanted me to be or not.  If you asked for my help, I could never say no."

                Again, Sasuke seemed satisfied with what she said.  Now, he nodded and said, "Thank you."

                Alarms were going off in Sakura's head.  Sasuke didn't say thank you much, but when he did, she was always about to be kicked in the gut, emotionally.  She braced herself, after all, what was the worst he could do?  It wouldn't be like the time he left them for Orochimaru, would it?

                "Sasuke-kun, what's going on?"  She was nervous and couldn't hide it.  "Sasuke-kun?"

                "You've been an important comrade to me, Sakura.  You've helped me in a lot of ways.  I need that help again, now."

                "What, what can I do?  Anything, I swear!"  _I'm no good in a fight, I'd just get in your way, I'm too out of practice.  What could you need me to do?_

                "…It won't be easy," Sasuke warned.

                "I don't care!  Whatever it is, Naruto and I—"

                "Not Naruto," Sasuke cut her off.  "Just you.  It's too much for me to ask of you, but there's no one else."

                _It's so important to him…_  "Sasuke-kun, I know when we were kids I tried to stop you from doing things that were important to you.  I just didn't want to see you get hurt.  But I'm not a spoiled kid anymore and nothing is too much that I can't do it for my friends.  Don't let me stand in your way; I swear I'll help you, Sasuke-kun.  I won't hold you back."

                He nodded, stopped walking and pivoted on one foot, so that soon, he was standing in front of Sakura.  She was shorter than he was, but not by much.  He smiled at her, but not in a happy way.  In a triumphant way, as though he'd just won a battle.  Sakura suddenly felt very intimidated.  Again, she braced herself, she met his eyes with her gaze and held them.  It wasn't like she was scared of him, or anything.  He was her friend.  Sometimes, the two of them and Naruto would rent a movie…Sasuke never wanted to, but they would and later they'd punish him by throwing popcorn at him.  He liked salt on popcorn, not butter.  She used to think that was so weird, but now she was used to it.

                "I have your word?"

                "Yes."

                He looked so serious, but not unkind.  If he'd looked at her like this when she was thirteen, she would have melted.  She probably would have tried to kiss him.  No wonder he rarely glanced her way when she had so wanted him to. 

                "I've decided to begin the process of restoring my clan," Sasuke said.  Sakura nodded, clearly unaware of where she factored in.  "As the last living Uchiha, the only way for me to do that is to sire children.  Any prospective progeny require a mother to bare them.

                "Marry me, Sakura."  

                Sakura's mouth was suddenly very dry.  She couldn't answer, but that didn't matter.

                She'd already given her word she would.    


	2. Period of Engagement

**The Uchiha Restoration**

                How could he ask her something like that?  Well, Sakura knew how he could; the answer was quite simple.  Uchiha Sasuke was an insensitive jackass.  She must have asked him to go out with her dozens upon dozens of times and every time he said no.  She loved him until her heart couldn't take it anymore and broke.  She was young, she bounced back.  Everyone knew the pain of first love and the strength you feel when you've moved on.  In Sasuke, she found a friend, who underneath it all, had a lot of need.  She promised to do all she could to help him.

                But, this, this was cruel.  Now that he had some want of her, no love, or even attraction, just to make little Uchihas, he twisted his words and the situation so that she couldn't say no.  He already had her word that she'd do it.

                Minutes had passed since the proposal, if it could be called that and Sakura still hadn't said anything.  She half wanted to rail at him, scream and curse and hate him.  But what sort of terrible person would hate a friend because he wanted a family?  The other half wanted to hug him and tell him it was all right, but her arms felt like lead and her throat was still dry.  

                Sasuke's triumphant smirk was waning a bit.  She still hadn't said anything.  She couldn't betray him.  She promised, she swore.  Sakura nodded, it was all she could do.  Sasuke gripped her shoulders and thanked her again.  

                Her knees buckled sometime after he had left, off going who-knows-where for who-knows-what reason.  _He could have been a little affectionate,_ Sakura thought irritably as she sat in the packed dirt of the unpaved trail on which they had been walking.  _He could have at least pretended._  She sighed and tried to let the anger drain out of her.  It didn't work.  

                Sakura fell back, lying on the path, not much caring if anyone was staring at her.  Around her, people were going about their normal day.  Coming home from or embarking on a new mission.  Buying produce in the open air market.  So what if someone stared at the crazy pink-haired ninja-teacher with a big forehead, getting dust all over the back of her dress?  Uchiha Sasuke just asked her to be a baby factory for him and as far as she was concerned, Sakura could do whatever the hell she wanted.

                Ugh.  She wanted to take a bath.  She also wanted to think, so it was a damn shame her apartment didn't have bathing facilities.  Sakura had never minded going to the bathhouse before, but listening to the chattering of any number of girls in the village and spreading gossip just didn't appeal at the moment.  She did suspect she had a good idea who the next juiciest bit would be about though.  

                As Sakura trudged toward the public bath, she wondered if her parents would mind if she stopped by to use the bathroom for a bit.  That way, her mother could wash her clothes while she was at it.  Of course, if she did that, she'd probably wind up telling her parents that she was engaged.  Her father, especially, would have a fit, and Sakura doubted her mother would be none too pleased, given her age.  The age of consent in all of Fire Country, including Konoha, was eighteen, but few were married at that age.  Nineteen wasn't much better.  The utter lack of any sort of romantic entanglement between them didn't help either.  What made Sasuke think it could even work out between them?  He might not even care if it couldn't work.  Being completely miserable with someone's company wasn't new to him.

                Sakura sighed again, and this time it made her feel a little bit better.  At least her parents didn't have any sort of outward dislike of Sasuke and they certainly liked him better than Naruto.  Ugh, she was going to have to tell Naruto, and Ino, and Lee and everyone.  Maybe she could get Sasuke to do that.  Probably not.  He wouldn't think it was any of their business.  Hmm, maybe Naruto.

                She was going to have to talk to Sasuke.  Decide when to get married, make preparations for the ceremony.  Maybe figure out if this wasn't all some big joke.  Maybe find out if Sasuke had ever made a joke in his life.  She was going to have to talk to him soon, Sakura realized as she trudged toward the bathhouse.  It wasn't as if she could agree to something like this and then ignore him until next Thursday's Ichiraku meeting.

                The women's public bath was nice as far as they went.  The title was clean, none of the sinks were chipped, and the furo was kept just cool enough so that the heat wasn't unbearable.  For a little bit extra, you could buy soaps and shampoo, which Sakura needed to make use of, since she hadn't stopped by her apartment to get her bathing supplies.  A few of the boys in the village peeked now and then on dares, but there wasn't a woman in the village who couldn't deal with a bratty kid or two.  

                As was the custom, she scrubbed her skin clean and washed her hair at a stool, rinsing herself every so often with cold water before joining the women in the heated tub.  A few of them she knew as teacher of their children and they shared polite How Are You's and Nice to See You's.  Sakura listened to the chatter of people having conversations until she couldn't take it anymore and got out, dressing in her dirty clothing.  It didn't feel like there was much of a point to taking a bath anymore, but Sakura figured she'd go home, change her clothes and blow dry her hair.

                The plans were put on hold when she saw Naruto heading in the opposite direction.  Even though her clothes were dirty and her hair wet, she ran to meet him.

                "Hey, Sakura-chan!" he greeted brightly.

                "Naruto, um, have you seen Sasuke-kun?" she asked.  

                "Why?  Do you know what's wrong with him?"

                "Mmm…I think he's just lonely."  She hadn't really thought about it, but now that it had come out, Sakura realized that made a lot of sense.  All that about restoring his clan… what was that other than just wanting to have a family again?

                "He never acts lonely," Naruto said, his eyes screwed up in his 'thoughtful' expression.

                "You never do, either…" Sakura said softly.

                "Sakura-chan…"

                "I know," she apologized, "that was a low blow.  But maybe Sasuke-kun acts lonely in his own way.  His own leave-me-alone sort of way."

                "Anything's possible.  Does he know he's being an idiot?"

                "I'll ask him the next time I see him," Sakura muttered darkly.

                Whether Naruto noticed the change in Sakura's attitude and thought it best to change the subject or if it was just his short attention span acting up or maybe even that he didn't want to encourage Sakura to think too much about Sasuke, he changed the subject and it was probably better for them both that he did.  

                "You won't believe the grunt work they had me doing today…"

                The conversation turned to stories about the day.  Nothing important or shocking, just the small things of mild interest, like Naruto's B-rank mission of harvesting medicinal plants from a few of the fenced-in training areas or which of Sakura's students acted up that morning.  By the time they had reached Sakura's building, the conversation had turned to a usual topic for the two of them lately.  In a few months, her first class would be up for graduation.  Sakura thought it would be great if he took a cell of students for genin survival training, but if they passed, he would have to go back to D-rank missions and on top of that, just supervising.  No action, just sitting around watching like their teacher had.  He didn't even think he could get any joy out of being terminally late like Kakashi had.  

                "What was his problem, anyway?"

                "He was just teaching us patience," Sakura said confidently, unlocking her door.

                "Eh, maybe."  Naruto fingered a paperweight, speaking over the sound of Sakura's blow-dryer.  He just assumed she could hear him.  "The guy's Hokage for crying out loud and he's still late all the time.  Any day now he's going to assign me to work on his face in the monument, I just know.  Just for kicks."

                "Would that be so bad?"  She could hear him.

                "Yeah!  I need A-Rank missions, not carving some stuffy statue of the stinky old pervert."

                "He doesn't smell…"  Sakura yanked knots out her hair, the dryer turned off.

                "Yeah, that's right, defend him.  He likes assigning me grunt work.  You didn't see him today.  He was making that face the whole time."

                "How can you tell?  You can only see his one eye."

                "You can tell," Naruto said with such brevity that Sakura cracked up.  She felt a lot of tension leave her in that laugh and it didn't go unnoticed by Naruto.  "Don't tell me something's wrong with you too."

                She spun around, modeling her filthy clothing.  "Bad day.  I'm gonna change."

                Weird.  Naruto was sure she hadn't mentioned anything about having a bad day.  She'd seemed pretty much normal to him when he saw her on her way home form the bath house, if a little pre-occupied with Sasuke, which was normal in itself.

                "Okay.." he said.

                "It's no big deal," Sakura lied.  Naruto caught that.  "I'm thinking of going to my parents' house later."  He didn't catch that.

~*~*~

                For the past few years, the fact that she knew where he lived was a source of mild embarrassment for her.  She never went to his house, it was just a hold over bit of information from years ago, when she desperately tried to know everything about him before his other legions of fans knew.  It wasn't a difficult thing to find out.  He had a whole area of the town to himself.  How utterly depressing.  His own personal ghost town.

                It didn't occur to Sakura that she had no idea if Sasuke was home or not until she was standing on his stoop.  She knocked on the door, once, twice.  No answer.  She didn't doubt this was where he lived.  The other houses had been boarded up for years.  It was the only place he could live.  He wasn't there now, apparently.  Well, where ever he was, Sakura was determined to talk to him, so she sat down on the stoop, elbows on her knees and chin cupped in her hands and settled in to wait.  

                Sakura was there maybe half an hour when she saw Sasuke coming up the road, holding a plastic bag, the kind market shoppers receive at a few of the more well-to-do stands.  She stood up in greeting, to let him know she was there.  His pace didn't alter at all.          

                "Hi," she said nervously as Sasuke came up the steps.  She hadn't said anything to him since…  What was she going to say now?  What was he going to say?

                As it turned out, he wasn't going to say anything.  Just nod to her and open the front door.  When he didn't close it behind himself, Sakura followed him in.  He didn't protest.  She closed the door.

                Sasuke was taking his purchases out of the bag, a sack of rice, a fresh package of dried seaweed sheets and three plump tomatoes.

                "So, um, what have you done today?"  Sakura asked.  When did trying to force conversation out of him become so awkward?

                "Training, mostly," he replied.  "I was assigned to an escort mission that's set to leave in two days.  A representative of a Water Country daimyo arrived to make peace negotiations, as our countries have never been allied.  It's meant to be some sort of act of good faith that Leaf Ninjas are escorting him home."

                "It would be more good faith for the daimyo to come himself."

                Sasuke snorted.  "They don't intend to ally their selves with us.  The Hokage suspects the representative is an elite shinobi himself.  He absolutely refused to have a Leaf jounin on his guard."  As he spoke, Sasuke moved about the kitchen methodically, measuring water, pouring it in the rice cooker, adding the rice.  Sakura just watched him and decided there was something very strange about seeing him cook, but he must have been making his own food for longer than she'd known him.  She also had more than just an inkling that she knew what he was making.

                "Don't you ever get tired of rice balls?"

                "No."

                "What are the tomatoes for?"  Sakura didn't see what they were for; no rice ball filling she knew of contained just fresh tomato.  

                "I like them."  

                A small giggle escaped Sakura's lips and Sasuke looked at her oddly.  "It's just kind of silly."  He didn't understand how she found that funny, but didn't press the matter.  Instead, he just dropped it.  "When Kakashi asked us what we liked and didn't like, you said you didn't like much of anything.  Wouldn't it have been funny if you said you liked tomatoes?"

                "…No..  It wouldn't have been."  

                Sakura sobered.  She didn't say another thing and neither did Sasuke.  She twitched._  All right, she told herself, _he has ten minutes to say something.  After that, I'm leaving._  She glanced at the clock.  _And, GO!__

                Nine minutes into the vow, the _Ting! of the rice cooker broke the silence.  Methodically, Sasuke curled a sheet of seaweed into a cupped shape and filled it with rice.  It wasn't so much of a recipe as a quick way of throwing the ingredients together.  While it wasn't what he would do when preparing a packed lunch or even his dinner in advance, it worked for now._

                Without a word, he held the first rice ball out to Sakura.  She blushed, very slightly and took it.  Mentally, she turned off the timer.  Actions did speak louder than words, after all.  

                Also, he had very clean fingernails.  Imagine that.

                "How long will you been on your mission?"  Sakura asked.  She supposed, if they really were going to go through with the wedding, it would make the most sense to begin planning after he returned.

                "It's been projected at three days length, though it more than likely will take a week."

                "Wow.  Master Kakashi isn't giving the client any credit, is he?"

                "We'll see if the client deserves any," Sasuke replied, picking up stray grains of rice with a finger.  He made himself another makeshift rice ball and tore into the seaweed with his teeth.  It had the consistency of paper and a strong smell of salt water, which added contrast and flavor to the sticky steamed rice.

                Sakura nodded and nibbled at her own rice.  "What will you do if he is a shinobi and attacks?  Or worse, if he has a team of jounin waiting?"

                "We're prepared for such eventualities."

                "How can you prepare if a client is setting you up?  You definitely can't fight someone you've been assigned to protect," Sakura pointed out.  How many times had Master Kakashi held Naruto back from attacking Tazuna?  Inwardly, Sakura smiled.

                "It's all very simple, Sakura," Sasuke said, unfolding his legs from beneath his kitchen table and standing up.  She looked up at him.  "They assigned me."  His lips curled up in that triumphant smile again.  He began to walk to the front door, beckoning her to follow with a few flaps of his hand.

                "No shortage of ego here," Sakura said good-naturedly.  She was feeling a good deal better about everything.  Even though she and Sasuke hadn't spoken of …it, they were still able to get along with it hanging in the air.  Each other's company wasn't anymore awkward than usual.  _Just as tactless, though_, Sakura though, as Sasuke ushered her out the door.

                But, when the door closed, he was still standing by her side.  He ambled down the steps, again, beckoning Sakura to follow.

                "Where are we going?" 

                He looked back her, eyebrows raised high enough that she couldn't see them beneath his leaf head protector.

                "We're getting married."    


	3. Pillow Talk

**The Uchiha Restoration**

                Sasuke felt himself grow irritated at Sakura's shocked expression.  The sooner they were done with surprises, the better.  Then again, he reminded himself, she shouldn't have been so surprised at all.  What did she think she had agreed to just a few hours ago?  Not that Sasuke was thick enough not to realize he tricked her into it.  He had planned his words very carefully the night before to back her into a corner.  If he'd given her the chance to say no, she might have.  Sasuke treated his proposal as he treated battle.  Size up your opponent and devise a strategy.  Adapt the plan as the adversary makes it necessary.  If your lucky, you can turn your opponent into an ally.  Sasuke had Sakura measured well enough to know she'd probably figured out his angle by now.  Apparently, she hadn't figured it out enough to know he intended to get the particulars of this battle over as quickly as possible.  The longer they were engaged, the more time they both had to second guess themselves.

                He was fairly confidant Sakura wouldn't back out.  If she did, then everything she'd ever said to him might as well be a lie.  She'd been offering to help him with all sorts of things for years.  She was always by his side.  She wouldn't desert him now that he'd admitted he needed her.

                Sasuke wasn't so confidant that he wouldn't back out.  Meditation and self-reflection had led him to this conclusion just the night before.  He treated it like a battle and dove in immediately, not thinking out this would affect any other aspect of his life.  His two-fold ambition tore him apart once already in his quest for the power to defeat Itachi.  More than just having the good fortune to cling to life after the Hidden Sound Village, he'd learned something from the experience.  The mindlessness of his determination was going to destroy him sooner or later, he knew that.  There was no power in the universe that was going to let him come out of this in one piece.

                He had no desire to pull anyone else down with him.  If he gave himself the chance, he'd put an end to this plan.  He needed something permanent to hold this all together before he left on his mission.  The time and distance was all he needed to change his mind.  A few consorts would work just as well at producing children to carry on the Uchiha bloodline.  He would probably have been able to find some women that would agree to leave the children to him once they were birthed.  But what he really wanted for his clan was legitimacy and for that, he needed marriage.  And for that, he chose Sakura.

                "Now?!" Sakura asked incredulously.  "But I haven't told my parents, we don't have any plans and I don't have a dress!"

                "Yes," Sasuke said, "now."

                "Dammit, don't I get a say in any of this?" Sakura was near-frantic.  Her life was very quickly spinning out of control so soon after she had found her place in the village, staring at young faces eager to learn rather than the backs of her comrades.  She liked making a difference, not depending on other people, having her own say in what went on around her.

                "It has to be now," Sasuke said in a very calm, very controlled voice.  She was getting to him.

                "WHY?!"

                "Because if it's not now," Sasuke began tersely, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her along with him, "it won't be ever."

                "If that's the way you really feel about all of this," Sakura pulled her hand way as hard as she could, "then we'd both be better off if it's not ever."

                The hand that had been griping her wrist twitched.  "You gave me your word."

                "That I would help you!  I've been telling you that for as long as I've known you.  But you don't really believe it's the right thing to do, then I can't help you."  Sakura found nothing in Sasuke's expression that gave her an inkling of insight into what he believed.  "What do you want, Sasuke-kun?"

                "I want to restore my clan."  The response was completely automatic.

                "That's not good enough, Sasuke-kun.  If you think you're going to regret doing this, then it shouldn't be done."

                There was a tense moment of silence before "We can have your parents as witnesses."

                "Are you kidding?  They'd try to stop us for sure."  

                "Aa," Sasuke took her wrist again and began guiding Sakura down the street.  His misdirection had worked.  By playing on her first protest, and probably most important, they were back on track.  "For the best, then.  We're going to be late as it is."

                "Wait—when did you make an appointment?"

                "This afternoon," Sasuke responded.

                "What would you have done if I didn't come over?"

                "You're hardly unpredictable, Sakura."

                They walked as they conversed and soon enough they arrived at the head office of Konoha Village.  It was customary in the hidden village to be married by the Hokage and it was customary of the current Hokage to be late no matter what the occasion was.  Hokage Hatake Kakashi himself probably didn't even know the last time he arrived somewhere before the people he planned to join there.  Whether he did this on purpose or just didn't have a working watch was anyone's guess, but as two out of three of his former students arrived five minutes after he did, which was fifteen minutes after he was supposed to, hr figured this was done on purpose.  

                "While I don't suppose you want to know why I was late," Kakashi said as Sasuke and Sakura approached, "which is a shame," he added as an aside, "because I had a really good excuse ready for you, I do want to know why you were late."

                Sasuke narrowed his eyes.  "We got lost," he said, not remotely resembling the casual way he used to tell them such.

                "On the road of life," Sakura added impishly.

                "You both lie," Kakashi said dryly.  "Now, cheer up, kids," Kakashi's manner was instantly upbeat.  "I never thought I'd see the day you two got married."

                "How does this even work?" Sakura asked.  "We don't have any witnesses." 

                "I'm disappointed in you, Sakura," Kakashi chided, "I've always expected you to know whatever information applies.  Witnesses don't really mean a thing; the ceremony itself is just to make people feel_ married.  What makes it legal is signing this," he produced the item in question with a puff of smoke, "form."  Similarly, he produced a pair of pens.  "Read it, sign it and if you want, I can ask you if you take each other."_

                Sakura briefly met Sasuke's eyes before reaching out for the form.  He noted her hand was shaking as she held it to read it.  She set it down on the table Kakashi was at, sitting on it, rather than behind as he generally did when assigning missions.  She held it still with her left hand, fingers splayed, and signed with her right, in the best handwriting she could muster.  Ha-Ru-No.  Sa-Ku-Ra.  She set the pen down, stepped back, and turned back to Sasuke, staring at him.

                Kakashi reached out with his right hand and plopped it down on the top of Sasuke's head, steering him to the form.  "Okay, kiddo, your turn."

                Sasuke skimmed the form, and signed his name, without any of Sakura's theatrics.  U-Chi-Ha.  Sa-Su-Ke.

                Kakashi smiled, his single visible eye crinkled in what Sakura was now very sure was "the look" Naruto had been talking about earlier.  Even his uncovered eye was hard to see underneath the wide-brimmed Hokage hat.  "And here I half-expected Sasuke_-kun to bolt.  Looks like I was wrong on both counts, huh, kids?  Now, just for kicks," the form and pens disappeared again, "Sakura, do you take Sasuke as your lawfully wedded husband?"_

                "Yes."  Sasuke could barely hear her.

                "Sasuke, do you take Sakura as your lawfully wedded wife?"

                "Aa."  Sakura looked at him with deadpan eyes, as 'Aa' was his all purpose response which meant 'Yes,' 'No,' and 'Shut up.'

                "Great!"  Kakashi crinkled his eye at them again.  "Now let's see a kiss."  There was a muttering of "Pervert."  Kakashi wasn't sure which one said it.  It could have been them both…

                Two things that could not be said about Uchiha Sasuke was that he lacked the ability to see things through or that he did not recognize the authority of his superiors.  Oftentimes he did not _respect_ his superiors nor acknowledge said authority, but as he both respect the Hokage and recognize his authority, Sasuke very quickly pecked Sakura on the lips.

                "Well, I guess that's everything," Kakashi said, a mite disappointed over the sorry excuse for a kiss.  Not because he was a pervert, which he was, but because though Sasuke had explained the situation fully to him that afternoon, he was still hoping to see a glimmer of real feelings between his two former students.  He'd known Sasuke in the past to do things for the wrong reasons and clearly that was something he had yet to grow out of.

                Sasuke and Sakura bowed their thanks and good-byes to the Hokage before he disappeared in a cloud of the same smoke.

                Neither husband nor wife spoke after they departed the head office.  The walk in silence was a tad less awkward then they both expected it to be, but still uncomfortable.  Sakura broke the hush that had come over them with muttering about having to teach her class for half the day the next morning, but since she didn't seem to require a reply, Sasuke didn't give one.

                He was watching her carefully to see where she intended to go.  About three blocks into the trip from the main building to their respective homes, the paths deviated.  He wondered if she was thinking about that at all and modified the options he now had based on her actions.  Best case scenario, as he saw it, would be for her to accompany him back to his home without prompting to consummate the marriage, and should luck and her fertility be with him, result in pregnancy before he departed for his mission.  A less desirable, but still acceptable option would be for her to be undecided about what she would do when they reached the fork.  Should that happen, he would guide her home and give her what ever space she needed, provided that it wasn't much.  The third choice, and a completely intolerable one, would be for her to head to her old apartment as though nothing had happened.  Should she do that, he'd leave her alone for now and explain what misgivings he had tomorrow.  Hopefully, if that was the case, when he returned from his mission, she would be willing to forgive him his emotional state of the week before and be more accepting of the situation as it was.

                When they reached the point where their perspective paths converged, Sakura stopped.  Mentally, Sasuke discarded his first and third plans and focused on the second.  He could see her swallow hard, and she spoke first, "I'll go with you now if you promise me something first."

                It seemed like a fair request, so he said, "Aa."

                "That's not good enough, Sasuke-kun.  I want to hear 'I promise.'"  He could tell it was important to her because her eyes were shiny.

                "I promise."

                "When we're actually doing it, act like you mean it."

                For the rest of the trip, no one said anything.  When they arrived at the house that would be home to them both, he led her to his bedroom, laid her down on the futon, threaded his hands in her hair and kissed her with his mouth open.  

                He tasted like tomatoes.

~*~*~

                Sasuke was sitting on the floor by the futon cross-legged wearing just a pair of shorts and sipping his normal glass of water when he sensed a pair of eyes on him.  Sure enough, Sakura was awake as well, watching him.

                "Hey," she yawned.

                "Go back to sleep," he replied, trying to figure out a way to add enough heat to sweat out his fever without the girl in his bed noticing.  The last thing he wanted was her asking about how often this happened, but at least her presence had him taking care of it.  

                "Could I ask you a few things first?"

                "Can I stop you?"

                "Why me?"

                "Who else?"

                "I mean it, Sasuke-kun.  Say you meet someone someday that you really do like.  Aren't you going to regret already being tied down to me?  Wouldn't you want that to be the person you have a family with?"  She shifted underneath the quilt and sat up, holding it over her chest.  A part of him thought her silly for her modesty, but as he had put on a pair of shorts when he got out of bed, he took another gulp of his water and said nothing of it.  

                "I'm not looking at other women," he replied once he felt he'd pondered her words enough.  "I'll be faithful, if that's what you're asking."  Her expression made it clear that she wasn't.  "You are a comrade that I trust to do right by her honor.  You gave me your word before you knew what I was asking and you kept it once you did.  There aren't many people who would do that."  Such as himself.  He wouldn't have thought twice about breaking a promise that didn't suit his needs.  He didn't say so, of course.  She must have realized that years ago.  "Anything else?"

                "Yeah…  This is going to sound strange, but do you like girls with long hair?."

                "…I guess," he replied, thinking that yes, it did sound rather strange.  He'd never thought about it before and hardly saw what that had to do with anything.  Sakura, who, he noted, had shoulder length hair, lay back down and seemed very amused.  Sasuke finished the last of his water and stood up, meaning to return his glass to the kitchen.  He came back, having decided on a temporary solution to his heat problem, and opened a bureau drawer and pulled out a heavy sweater.  Like nearly all of his shirts, it was dark blue with a wide collar and the red and white symbol of his clan on the back.  The way he put it on, arms in first and then pulling it over his head, displayed the back from the front for just a moment before he yanked the hem down to his waist.  

                He crawled back underneath the quilt of the futon and fell asleep. 


	4. Before the Storm

**The Uchiha Restoration**

                There was that feeling in the pit of her stomach, not like butterflies, but more like fear.  It was a winding, tightening knot of nervousness that had settled into Sakura's abdomen when she awoke Saturday morning.  The lovely feeling that was the afterglow of sex was gone and now she was just nervous.  She assumed things would slow down now…yesterday, the surprises and shocks rolled over her, one after another, colliding into one another, making everything just a jumbled mess.  

                Now Sakura's mind was clear enough for her to wonder what she would say to her husband, _her husband_, today, tomorrow and for the rest of their lives.  The last thing she wanted was for the air between them to be awkward.  It had taken her such a long time before she learned how to talk to him without feeling disappointed at his response, so many months before she could read him, years before she could just be comfortable around him.  The back of her mind didn't cheer when he smiled at her or scream when he pulled away.  He stopped being Sasuke, the beautiful, brooding boy and she finally saw that he was Sasuke, her friend and teammate, her important comrade.  

                She stopped doing things in a vain attempt to impress him and started doing as she believed; more often then not, Sakura still found herself by his side, because that was where she saw she was needed.  Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto…they weren't Team 7 anymore, but they were still a team.  Sakura was suddenly very sure, and rather afraid, that the team dynamic was about to go to hell.

                Sasuke was wearing his personal uniform; a variation of the normal chuunin outfit that was blue, wide collared and sported a fan rather than a spiral on the vest.  His expression wasn't readable to Sakura—it usually was—but she thought it might have to do with the angle. He was standing up, looking down at her in the futon, still.

                "How long are your students going to wait for you?"

                Sakura looked at the clock on the wall and swore, violently.  She pulled her clothes on as quickly as she could, thankful that she had changed since Friday's class.  She didn't much want her students suspecting their teacher was getting lucky, at least, not before her marriage was made public.  

                Dressed, Sakura dashed out the door, trying to think of a better excuse for her tardiness than an exercise in patience.  She was quite fond of her students, but didn't think most of them had the maturity to accept that answer, anyway.  There was probably going to be, at the very least, an eraser wedged in the doorway, waiting to fall on her head.  

                But there was no eraser, no students still waiting either, except for one girl, ten years old, worriedly wringing her hands.  The girl burst into a diatribe of how none of the other students wanted to wait because it was just a half-day of school anyway and she tried to stop them, but no one would listen.  The girl would have reminded Sakura of herself in her younger days, but this one was very sincere.  There was no voice in the back of her head laughing at the stupid teacher who couldn't even control her own class and for that, Sakura was thankful.

                "Thank you for staying," Sakura smiled, "but it looks like class is dismissed.  Go on home."

                "But—"

                "Don't worry, I'll punish everyone else on Monday.  A ninja can't just abandon a mission if he doesn't like to wait."

                "A shinobi needs the patience to know to wait for the right time to act."

                "Exactly."

                The student hurried away and Sakura sat down at her desk, looking at the rows of empty tables and chairs.  Her students had a long way to go if they couldn't even wait for a tardy teacher.  It was a simple thing to do that even the freshest cadet should have been able to realize was right.  What if she had been testing them?  They didn't know what was really going on in the life of their teacher.  No one did anymore, not really.

                She didn't.

~*~*~

                If asked, Yamanaka Ino would have denied being jealous of Naruto and Sasuke for being Sakura's closest friends.  But no one did ask.  They probably just assumed Ino was her best friend, if they even thought about it at all.  Which isn't to say that Shikamaru and Chouji weren't close friends to Ino, they were, but it wasn't the same as having a girl to confide in.  A lot of the time, Sakura didn't seem to need another girl as much as Ino did.  Maybe it was because she'd never been very good at being girly, maybe it was because you could say whatever was on your mind to Naruto, he'd listen to the girl stuff if you wanted to tell him, or maybe it was because Sakura had worked so hard at being a ninja first and a woman second that she refused to let herself need silly feminine outlets.

                Ino wasn't the same way.  She needed pretty flowers and to powder her nose.  She always needed to look and feel sexy.  She needed someone to watch chick flicks and do make-up with, to gossip about boys and complain about her period.  She wanted to play the politics of the female subculture.

                If Sakura wanted any of that, she stopped showing it the day she cut her hair off with a kunai.

                If asked, Yamanaka Ino would have denied that any part of her, no matter how small or how guilty was thrilled when a tearful Sakura lunged at her one Saturday afternoon, throwing her arms around the other girl's waist and burying her head in her shoulder, crying.  Turning of a dime from comforting to ruthless—this was female friendship and what it meant to be a kunoichi.  Sakura had never understood that.  

                Ino hugged Sakura and asked her kindly, "Do you want to talk about it?"  Sakura pulled away enough to nod.  Ino calmed her friend down long enough to settle them both into a booth in a favorite café of hers.  Not the Ichiraku, which was like a second home to their entire generation, but a nice restaurant where they could sit down with fattening, sweet desserts and just talk.

                "Sakura-chan, what's wrong?"

                Sakura's head was pillowed on her arms, folded across the table.  Her reply was a muffled, "I don't know."  Ino smiled in the way people do when they are too tactful to frown.  Sakura raised her head just a bit and elaborated.  "I feel like I'm going to explode.  I just want a good cry."

                "Did something happen?"  Stupid question, but Ino wasn't sure how far she could get with the direct approach.  She would have to do as much probing as she could.

                "A lot," Sakura sniffed.

                "What?" Ino prompted.  For someone so eager to pour everything out, Sakura was not being very informative.

                "If Shikamaru-san or Chouji-san asked you for a favor, what would you tell them?"  In fact, she was being down right evasive.  She could have been brilliant out in the field, instead of locking herself in a classroom, teaching hopeless candidates.

                "That would depend on what it was," Ino replied, hoping the conversation was going down the path that would let Sakura get it all out.  

                "What if they didn't tell you?"

                "They'd have to.  How could I do anyone a favor without knowing what it was?  It's stupid."

                "But ..what if you could tell it was really important to him?  Too important to say no."

                Ino chuckled.  "Anything that important to Chouji would be about food and I'd still say no."

                "Well, I said yes."

                "What'd Naruto ask you to do?" Ino asked, figuring she knew where this conversation was going.  In her thinking, having to do Naruto a favor was more then enough to make anyone cry.

                "Not Naruto," Sakura replied, "_Sasuke__-kun."_

                Ino dropped the spoon she had been eating parfait with between questions.  "What would he ever ask anyone for?"  _And why didn't he ask me?_  Not that Ino didn't realize Sakura was closer to Sasuke than she would likely ever be, but she would have leapt at the chance to get into his good graces.  All he ever had for her were disgusted glances, and those were few and far between.  

                "I just wanted to help him so much," Sakura said, "I didn't even think about what he would want.  I know Naruto and I are important to him, but sometimes he's still so distant.  I just get so worried about him.  When he asked for my help yesterday, I just couldn't say no."

                "Yeah," Ino said finally, "I know what you mean.  Shikamaru and Chouji were the biggest pains imaginable, but who doesn't love their genin cellmates?"

                Sakura sniffed.  "I'm so glad you understand.  I just need someone who does so much.  I haven't even told my parents yet."

                "So," Ino said, leaning across the table in anticipation of what Sakura would say, "what'd he want?"

                "You know how he wants to restore his clan?"  Ino didn't, but said she did, anyway, just to speed things along, really having no idea how much better her understanding was making Sakura feel.  "Well, he wants me to help him with that.  We got married last night, and now he'd trying to get me pregnant."

                Falling out of a booth is not as simple as falling off a chair, but Ino managed to anyway.  

                "What?!  But I thought you..him…  What?!"  Ino clawed her way back into the booth, not even caring that her spoon was on the floor and the tall dish her parfait had come in was lying shattered on the table, knocked over when she fell.

                For a long time, Sasuke had been the goal Ino measured her worth against.  He was gorgeous, talented, wanted by everyone and most importantly, unattainable.  Was there any other test of being a woman than to capture the heart of a man like that?  Even when the other girls had grown up and moved on to boys that noticed them, Ino stuck by her goal.  Goals are for reaching, not giving up on.  

                "He needed me, Ino-chan."  There was a silence as Sakura's words sunk in.  She settled her arms on the table again, and rested her chin on them.  She didn't look so frantic or near tears anymore, but…content.  "I was so mad at him yesterday.  He had me swearing I'd do things before I even knew what they were.  He didn't give me a say in anything.  He needed me _that much.  I've never been needed before, Ino-chan.  I've always been so useless.  No matter how many times I tell myself what's going on, it still sounds weird and I know things are going to change so much, but I'm needed."_

                "That's the fact that you got laid talking."

                "No, I'm glad I'm doing this, I really am.  Being needed is all I've ever really wanted."  Sakura sighed, "Sasuke-kun has so much need.  I want to give this to him."

                "Then how come you were crying, hm?" Ino asked skeptically.  "You can't lie to yourself, Sakura-chan.  Not about something this big."

                Sakura shook her head.  "I just needed to get it all out.  Besides, how do you know I wasn't crying because I was happy?"  Ino raised her eyebrows.  Sakura laughed inwardly.  She seemed to be getting that a lot lately.  "Naruto says it's only all right to cry when you're happy."

                "No one takes Naruto seriously," Ino countered.

                "Anyone who's smart does," Sakura said with good cheer, rising from the table.  "Thanks so much for letting me get all of this off my chest, Ino-chan.  You're the best friend a girl could have, really."

                As Sakura walked away, Ino bent down to retrieve her spoon from the floor.  Looking dejectedly at her smashed glass of parfait, she pursed her lips.  She tapped the spoon against the table in a quick, successive rhythm.  "Sakura-chan," she muttered into the air, "how can you be happy if you don't love him?"


	5. Dream Lover

**The Uchiha Restoration**

                Some people were afflicted with the curse of bad timing.  Uchiha Sasuke was one of them.  When he was about eight years old, he arrived home late from kunai practice to find his clan murdered at the hands of his own brother.  Had he come home a bit earlier, there was a chance he could have been killed as well.  He probably would have been better off.  Had he come just a bit later, he might have not witnessed his brother standing over the bodies of their parents with a murderous glint in his eyes.  Had he not seen that, he definitely would have been better off.  During Team 7's first survival training mission, Sasuke had taken leave from his fellows and when he paused just a moment to have a short conversation with Sakura, the last of the exercise's time whittled away.  It wouldn't have made a difference, but at the time, he had been rather mad at himself.  The first time he confronted Itachi, he had been far too weak.  If the battle had just taken place a few months down the line, he would have been far better off.  Instead, he sought Orochimaru for power, created more private demons, wallowed in extra hells, and grew no stronger.

                Case in point, the latest bit of bad timing involved Sasuke leaving the village for a high profile escort mission, projected length undetermined, a mere three days after a large and sudden self-discovery, two days after the plan to complete his remaining ambition was implemented and the day after he came home after training in Area 42 to find his wife curled up on the couch, grading students' worksheets.

                Now, teaching being a time-consuming profession, Sasuke had seen Sakura grading papers plenty of times before.  Most often, she did so when Sasuke and Naruto were playing Go.  Sasuke wasn't very good at board games, but he was still better than Naruto, who didn't seem to have a grasp on the game at all.  He always vowed to beat Sasuke at it someday (Sasuke assumed this was a hold-over rivalry from the days when he had been a better ninja) and Sakura wisely chose to stay out of it.  Though she still hung around at these times, she did something productive with her time, rather than stare at the two and wonder why they bothered.

                What made this particular situation bad timing was the simple fact that now Sasuke had living, breathing, willing female flesh with which to take the first step of clan restoration, and he was leaving.  Sasuke muttered something he was sure Sakura wouldn't catch, but she stiffened slightly anyway, clearly trying to seem as though his presence didn't affect her.  While he didn't blame her for acting strangely, he wasn't so dense as to not understand what he was putting her through, Sasuke did find himself annoyed by it.  Her moods seemed to fluctuate between glowing and pretending he wasn't there.  Being ignored was not something Sasuke was used to, nor was it something he on the whole enjoyed getting from people who usually paid attention to him.

                What it boiled down to was he couldn't find his comfort zone anymore.  Yesterday evening, Sakura had been too close, smiling at him and talking about moving her belongings into the house over the coming week.  She told him about the kids ditching her class, but didn't seem upset by it.  She was happy.  Too happy.  What had she been doing?

                He hadn't spoken to her this morning.  Why she felt she had to retaliate against his just not having anything to say, he'd never understand.  But as it stood, she was being too distant.  She hadn't greeted him nor looked at him, but she wasn't being subtle about it.  Sasuke could tell she was doing it on purpose.  

                It was actually one of the many ways life was strange: he could want Sakura to shut up for the longest time, and she would not.  But when she was silent, he was uncomfortable and wanted her to say something.  The best solution to this problem, as he saw it, was to leave.  If she was going to take away what he liked about her, which was that he felt at ease around her, then he wouldn't argue.  If there was no comfort to be found here, then it was to be found else where.  Being a ninja, Sasuke did notice Sakura watch him pass into the adjacent room.  He paid it no mind.  So what if she was mad at him now?  She'd be happy enough to see him when he returned from his mission.  That was just the way it was and no amount of disagreements had ever changed that.

                "I kinda freaked you out yesterday, didn't I?"

                Oh.  So she was speaking to him after all.  He turned around to face her.  "Not particularly."

                "Okay.  I thought I might have."  She laughed nervously.  "It's just that yesterday I was in such a good mood and you seemed to be in a bad one."  She paused, watching him.  She could read him.  He didn't like that.  "So anyway..you're leaving tomorrow?"

                "Yes."

                Whether or not she intended to mask her growing frustration with him didn't matter.  Sasuke could tell her patience was beginning to ebb and soon enough he would probably be in for another of her mood swings.  

                "You know, you never gave me any feedback about moving some of my stuff here."

                That, again.  Pick a topic and stick with it.  "Do what you like."

                "Do you want me here or not?"

                "That's a foolish question," Sasuke muttered.  He supposed he shouldn't have said it aloud, but was done was done.

                "Not to me, it isn't."  She sighed.  "Once, you told me that not having parents made kids grow up lonely.  I didn't get what you were saying then because I didn't know about…"she trailed off, but began again, clearly trying to spare him some pain.  "But now I think that what you were really saying then is that you were lonely.  I've never been alone the way you are, but I still know what loneliness feels like.  I don't want you to be alone."

                Perhaps her words were meant to move him.  As it stood, he was rather unphased as nothing she had said was news to either of them.  She fought him tooth and nail when it came to his solitude for as long as he had known her.  He'd fought back just has hard, not wanting to be alone, but not wanting to let anyone get close after what happened to the last people he had loved and respected.  He had far too much to fight for than to let anyone win the battle against his will and his hatred.  And though that wasn't the case anymore and had not been for some time, Sasuke was never ready to surrender.  He didn't think there could ever be someone who was so much an ally that they could never be his enemy, so to admit defeat in a battle of wills was unimaginable.  How could he face them when someone inevitably turned coat, if the weakness of caring hung in the air?

                Sakura had been his enemy before, and though he knew he had made her such by abandoning the Leaf Ninjas, what should happen if he conceded to her now, that he didn't want to be lonely, and they found themselves facing each other in battle?  He'd rather die than lose her, than lose Naruto, than lose their somewhat insufferable mentor.  How many ways could that be used against him?

                He wondered briefly if that was how his parents felt when Itachi came to kill them, that they would rather die than raise a weapon against him..?  

                To admit defeat now was to clear a road for betrayal, to give her a weapon to use against him that he would not be able to counteract.  

                Suddenly it hit him that he should not be thinking this way about his wife.  To be a wife was to be a partner to the husband for life.  They had bound themselves together as allies and on top of that he had chosen her for her loyalty and his faith in her.  She was the woman who would bear his children, raise and nurture them.  He had dedicated his life to the ambition of restoring his clan, pulled her into the most important thing in his life.  What could it mean other than his faith in her was limitless?  He could never have a greater ally and as such to take part in petty, stubborn arguments and stack his pride against her like a weapon…  That was him betraying her.

                "If I didn't want you here, I wouldn't have brought you."  The statement didn't reflect that he believed she would come on her own, so he added, "Or waited for you."

                She smiled at him and moved closer, placing her arms loosely around his waist.  Sakura kissed Sasuke softly on his mouth and being that she was his wife, he returned it.

~*~*~

                There was no ground beneath him and no sky above him.  Looking into the distance, he saw nothing, just a place with no being and no end.  He was there, in his normal Chuunin clothing, standing solidly on something that existed only under his feet.  He was alone.

                Sasuke had never been alone in this place before, there was always someone else there to talk to him, to blame him, to make his hatred stronger or his loneliness more intense.  He was almost pleased to see that nothing was there to greet him, but even if his own negative thoughts didn't manifest themselves as something outside of himself, they were still there, in the back of his mind, even when not conscious.  They could do just as much damage there as anywhere else.

                He turned around for no particular reason.  Had he not made the motion of turning with his whole body, the change within his line of sight probably would have been the same.

                Sakura, as she had been when they were first assigned to the same team, long hair and all, was seated on a chair that didn't exist, gazing at his 12-year-old self in adoration.  Sasuke expected his younger incarnation to start railing at him, but that didn't happen.  Neither child seemed to be aware that anything, or nothing, such as the case was, existed outside of the brooding boy.

                Sasuke, the one who was nineteen and Chuunin and could call himself an adult if he wished or a non-adult and no one would contradict him, noticed Sakura's long hair for the first time.  Of course, he'd been aware that her hair was once longer than it currently was, but it had never been a source of concern for him.  Naruto, he remembered, shouted his horror at Sakura's short hair when he awoke in the second Chuunin exam.  Sakura had been heavily injured, and he, Sasuke had woken with the curse seal for the first time, in a mindless rage and eager to destroy.  That someone had hurt Sakura was just an easy excuse; he could rip apart the person who had done that to her.   

                The scene before him changed, both children were standing now and Sakura's hair was short.  Her arms were around him loosely and half of his body was flecked with black designs.  The marks of the curse traveled up his arms and legs, retreating into Orochimaru's mark.  The two sunk down onto a ground that wasn't there, existing side by side.  She was injured; one of her eyes was only half-open.  Though the backs of both phantoms were facing him, he remembered.

                Scenes of his life continued and Sasuke supposed this was his version of dreaming about a woman.  There she was, letting him lean against her, tending to his wounds, telling him that she loved him with all of her heart.  With a smirk, as though it was some great joke, the vision of himself told her she was really annoying.

                And next, of course, came Sasuke-sama…the one who lead those who left their villages for Orochimaru.  The myriad of deeds they committed didn't play before him…this wasn't about them.  Though, he had to admit, he didn't know where his own mind was going with this.  Had he stayed asleep for longer, he may have found out, but Sasuke was jolted awake by a fellow Leaf Chuunin, amid scores of screams and flying throwing blades.

                His chakra flowing into his feet, Sasuke leapt into the tree he'd been sleeping beneath.  From  his new vantage point, he could see that most of his teammates who were on the sleeping shift were dead, killed quickly, quietly and cowardly.  He himself had been rammed into by a corpse.    

                With red eyes, the Uchiha survivor lit his enemies a flame, leaping from branch to branch, kunai and caltrops falling in his wake.  The daimyo's representative spotted, Sasuke dove to the ground.

                The Hokage, with a genius mind hidden in the leaves and behind a lazy eye, had, of course, been correct.

                The escort was an ambush.


	6. One Week

****

The Uchiha Restoration

Sakura was not particularly surprised when the following Thursday rolled around and Sasuke had yet to return from his mission. After all, he had said it would likely take up to a week. She was, however, just a little worried, but that was nothing new. She always worried about her active shinobi friends when they left the village. There were plenty of places in Konoha that were far more dangerous than anything in the outside world could be, such as the fenced in training areas, but it was still comforting to know that the people close to her were safe within the walls of the village. There was a sort of strange double standard when you were a ninja. The idea of yourself dying for a mission was perfectly acceptable when the sacrifice was meaningful and necessary. But the idea of losing your comrades--that was truly horrible. Sakura was confidant in her comrades, though, so it wasn't even a big worry. Just a little nagging feeling in the back of her mind that reminded her how long her friend had been gone and when said friend should return. 

She had a highly tuned Sasuke-Meter (and a highly tuned Naruto-Meter, for that matter. Why did her boys refuse to take care of themselves?), which insisted that she not get antsy for at least another three days. Of course, listening to said Meter is a good deal harder when there's the possibly she could be carrying his child. Because it had never seemed particularly important, Sakura didn't know her rhythm beyond when she should be menstruating. There was a just as good a chance she hadn't even been ovulating on their wedding night. Or Sunday afternoon. Or Sunday night. 

Yet the possibly remained. Very close to the front of her mind when it could manage it, actually.

What it all amounted to at the moment was that at 6:45 on Thursday evening, Sakura was horribly lonely. Sasuke was on a mission. Naruto was on a mission, a 'good' one, too, that he shouldn't have complained about, but did anyway because Hyuga Neji was on his team and it was hardly a secret that they couldn't stand each other. Since she didn't like the idea of not going to Ichiraku, as was their custom, whenever neither of them could make it, Sakura always just invited another friend. The tradition wasn't so sacred that only the three of them were allowed to participate. But even that wasn't appealing. Ino had been distant since Saturday and Sakura didn't want to risk alienating someone else. There just was no good way to tell people that you'd spontaneously married someone that you'd never even dated. 

Thus the pink-haired kunoichi sat alone at the counter, dejectedly stirring a steaming bowl of ramen with single use chopsticks she hadn't even bothered to snap. She just didn't feel hungry. She felt alone. And though Sakura really wanted Sasuke by her side right now, she wouldn't be picky if someone else decided to show up.

Entertaining thoughts such as those were always a bad idea, because the worst possible person was likely to be the one to appear.

And appear Rock Lee did.

And it wasn't that Sakura disliked Lee, far from it. She was very fond of him, she just wasn't fond of the idea of telling her number one admirer that she got married. She wasn't fond of telling him, who trained so hard that it was physically painful to watch him, that she married he who could do any technique he'd ever looked at with the right eyes. She'd been through so much more with Sasuke than she had ever been with Lee and even to her it felt like a betrayal now that she was face to face with him. She didn't want to imagine what it would feel like to him. And she couldn't sit here with him and not tell him, could she?

But, he did deserve to hear it from her, not whoever he happened to be with when the rumor mill started grinding. 

Once they were past the greetings (a part of Sakura wondered why she still used '-san' with Lee, but another part answered that 'Lee-san' was just who he was, just like Naruto still got no suffix and Sasuke had always been 'Sasuke-kun.'), Sakura decided that she would only mention it if a natural lead-in to the subject came up. It didn't pass her notice that she kept the conversation centered squared on his life. What was new with him. How hard he'd been working on anything, on everything. How Neji and Tenten had been lately. How much weight was hidden on his person today. How his hair had been getting longer...this cut suited him better, she could see his ears for once. How he was rediscovering his own personal style, departing from Gai's, just a bit. How he saw Gai so much more than she and Sasuke and Naruto saw Kakashi.

And there it was.

The last time she saw Kakashi..it was with Sasuke.

"But, still," Sakura could hear herself saying, "that wasn't the way I meant it. We see him all the time, just not when he's being the Hokage. On Friday, Sasuke-kun even made an appointment."

How sad, that you would need an appointment to see someone you care about.

Sakura slurped her ramen as Lee spoke, chewing and swallowing creating a pause in the conversation. 

Precious people.

Her chopsticks perched on the edge of her bowl, one had holding them there idly, while the other gestured.

"There was more to it than that," she said, words coming easier than they should have considering what she said and what she thinking weren't really lining up. "It was a ceremony, so we had to go to the Hokage. I guess we're just lucky that it was Master Kakashi."

"A ceremony?"

"For Sasuke-kun's clan, the Uchiha."

Uchiha, a paper fan.

A clan, one that needed her.

Sasuke needed her and she would always be there for him.

He was a precious person to her, precious for so long, she almost didn't notice it anymore. He was just Sasuke, dear to her like no other had ever been. 

Sakura almost didn't hear Lee's question and she certainly didn't register it. When no response came, tentatively, Lee asked again. Perhaps it was upsetting to her?

"Why would you go to a ceremony for the Uchiha?"

This time, there was an answer. Simple. It was all so simple.

"I love him."

~*~*~

Though he was aware there was a difference between a house and a home, Sasuke was not the sort of person who would be able to put it into a clear, distinct definition. The difference was intuitive and as far as he was concerned, only knowledge needed to be defined. Intuition was for acting upon and trusting, but not words. Once upon a time, he lived in a home. And then it became a house. And then when he returned to it one Friday afternoon, the one week anniversary of his marriage, no less, nursing a shuriken wound to the shoulder, it seemed to have decided it wanted to be a home again.

It wasn't so different as to be intrusive. Just a little warmer, like the thermostat was pushed up a few degrees, a few knickknacks on the shelves along with the books, but still plenty of surface space. It looked like someone other than himself lived there. All in all, it suited him quite well, as he'd never much cared for living alone and a part of him had wondered why anyone would do so out of choice. Of course, there was a whole need people felt to distance themselves from their caretakers, but he'd never quite understood that, being as his died long before he reached the age of asserting one's independence.

Though..he would have to speak to Sakura about room temperature. It was just a bit too warm for his taste.

He was in the process of pushing down the temperature gauge just a tad when she entered from the bathroom, her hair in a messy bun that it was really too short for and a bucket of cleaning supplies in her hand. Her whole countenance lit up when she saw him and he smiled just slightly in return.

It had been quite a long time since home had been a place he particularly wanted to be.

She took his traveling bag and asked if he wanted something to eat or a bath, like the housewives on television. It was strange and irritating, but since he did want to clean the wound on his shoulder and change the bandage, Sasuke accepted the bath without any fuss. 

Afterwards, she was rewrapping his bandage for him, as it was difficult to apply a bandage with one hand with much success. He wanted to tell her that he didn't expect her to be some sort of domestic servant, but somehow it came out "I like your hair better short."

Sakura apparently hadn't seen that coming either and started. It jolted his shoulder, causing Sasuke to hiss in pain. She looked on apologetically. Sasuke consciously relaxed his muscles and gestured with his other arm to continue. She began wrapping again, careful to keep a steady hand.

He tried again. "I don't expect you to do all the housework." Better.

She grinned. "Good." A pause. "But, while you're on missions, I'll still be here teaching and taking care of our children. I'm not going to live in filth and I won't have you or our babies living like that, either."

Speaking of the children... "Do you know--"

Sakura cut him off. "Not yet. It's much too soon to tell." 

Sasuke nodded. He didn't think they'd know after just a week, but he had to admit, at least to himself, that he was rather anxious. He had been mulling over the idea of Uchiha heirs now for a long time. He was so close now, he wanted to know for sure that he had them, wanted to see them, raise them, train them, teach them to be something better than himself. 

He wanted to see others who bore his symbol. 

"You have to start wearing the Uchiha fan," Sasuke said, and it occurred to him that he hated the simple white circle that was on all of her dresses. It was such a meaningless design. It was like long hair; it didn't suit her at all. 

He wanted to look into eyes green like hers and see them turn red, watch them swirl.

"I think that would surprise a lot of people," Sakura said wryly. The bandaging finished, Sasuke tested his arm, flexing the shoulder. She really had done a much better job of fixing him up than he had.

He snorted. "There are a lot of people who should mind their own business."

Sakura busied herself packing the extra cloth back into the first aid kit. She knew Sasuke well enough to know he'd need it again before long. They were seated on the couch in the living room and when she was done, she settled back into the cushions. "It's some people's business," she ventured. "I'm worried about what Naruto will think. We've been a trio for so long, it's like we're cutting him out."

Sasuke didn't dwell on this long before replying, "I don't think anything honestly surprises Naruto anymore. He's more perceptive than you give him credit." She was clearly doubtful, so he continued. "We haven't hidden anything from him. He's known for a long time that I intend to restore my clan--"

"Our."

A smile. "Our clan. He knows we're close. It makes sense. No one who knows us should be surprised."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Can I stop you?"

Sakura sighed. It wasn't a sad sound by any means, just a deep intake of breathe. "Did you ever think we'd be here?"

There was probably a part of him that enjoyed answering questions with another question because he said, "Where else would we be?"

She sighed again, a slightly irritated sound this time. "Married, though..."

Sasuke leaned back into the couch cushions as well. "No one who knows us should be surprised," he repeated.

There was barely a beat of silence before: "I probably am pregnant."

He leaned into her and smiled. 


	7. Omake: Bonus Story

****

The Uchiha Restoration Omake

It was completely, utterly and entirely unfair. He had been wearing what the villagers called a "badge of adulthood" since he was eight years old, and yet when ever it counted, people still saw a child. There was someone just a bit smaller than him, leaning on his shoulder, half asleep. It was fine with him if people wanted to see her as a child. There was someone definitely smaller than them both fast asleep and using her lap as a pillow, who was undoubtedly a child.

The half asleep one asked drowsily, "C'n I braid your hair?"

Why did she always ask that? She knew he only let her braid the ribbons into his hair if he was in a hurry. She could do it so much faster than himself. He wasn't in a hurry. He was waiting. And his braid, one part hair, one part red ribbon and one part white ribbon, was fine. He only needed to have it redone after one of the ribbons had been ripped out. Cloth was a fantastic weapon.

"No."

She pouted.

"Braid your own."

"I dun wanna." She pressed into his shoulder, so much so that she was probably seeing stars. She wasn't the type to lay the size of her head against him. No, she had to be face down. Weirdo. An over-tired weirdo. The other one had gone to sleep, why wouldn't she? Maybe she couldn't sleep in a strange place, but older brothers, such as himself, were apt protectors. Especially chuunin older brothers.

It was probably the smallest one's doing that she couldn't sleep. Wouldn't let herself sleep. Should little five-year-old Yaemon awaken, then nine-year-old Natsuki needed to protect him, help him re-orient himself to the surroundings. Maybe sing that song to him again. And he, Kyo, genin at eight and chuunin at ten, had to look out for her. That was the way it was.

His eyes turned to the door both of his parents had disappeared to some hours ago. He wondered if Yaemon would be the one to look out for the twins once they were born, or if they would look out for each other.

Natsuki, whether she was aware of it or not, being nearly asleep as she was, had begun half humming, half singing that song again. The one she sang to Yaemon when he was worried about their very pregnant mother. Up until now, he had been the baby. He'd never seen her pregnant before. Their mother liked to listen and told Kyo once, when he was listening, too, that they were going to name the twins after one of the lines in the song. He thought it was sweet and joined in on that part.

"_Hikari_ was born and then _Yami_ was born..."


	8. Author Notes

****

The Uchiha Restoration

Author Notes and Disclaimers

"Naruto," and all related characters, situations and trademarks are property of Masashi Kishimoto.

The preceding work of fanfiction is based on the manga, as published in Viz's Shonen Jump, the anime, as fansubbed by Toriyama's World and ANBU_AonE, and the Naruto Fanbook by Masashi Kishimoto. In is in these sources that obscure characterizations are found, such as Naruto being something of a gardener, and assumptions for the future, such as Sasuke being evil for a time.

I didn't think any notes were necessary after chapter two, but I do want to add a few things after writing chapter three. First and most important is that Kakashi is the fifth Hokage. The only reason I wrote him in as Hokage is that Masashi Kishimoto said in an interview that Kakashi was the best candidate, though he really wanted it to be Naruto. I'd like to see Naruto as Hokage too someday, but I think at the point this story takes place he is too young and too immature for the responsibility. I don't write things just because I want to see them happen.

Second, chapters are probably going to come at longer intervals now. Give or take a few scenes, when I posted chapter one, chapters two and three were already in my head. I had hoped I would have future plans for the story more concrete as I approached this point, but sadly, I don't.

Also, I'd like to thank everyone that has reviewed. It's been a long time since I've gotten so many reviews and I've never gotten so many constructive ones for one story before. It's actually making me a bit nervous and I hope 'The Uchiha Restoration' can live up to your expectations. 

Chapter four is here. I've wanted to write Ino in for a while, but this was the first place she really fit in. I wanted Chapter Four to be longer, but I was out of material slated for this chapter. There will probably be only one or two more chapters to go. 

Look, chapter five, and it only took a month. You would not believe how difficult this chapter was to write. Sorry about the cheesy dream sequence but I A)Couldn't think of a better lead-into for the battle scene and B) HAD to do something with the "I …love you with all my heart!" "You're really annoying" exchange. Also, I recently learned that Tsunade is the new Hokage, well it's official. I have told continuity to kiss my ass. 

Most multi-chaptered fics I write have seven chapters and I would like UR to as well, but there will definitely only be six. I guess the author notes will kinda make it look like seven.

Chapter six is here! And with it, then end of the story, proper. I think there were probably some people who were looking for a darker story and probably some who were looking for a fluffier story. What I was going for, more than anything else, was a story in which Sasuke and Sakura came together in a way they weren't really looking for. They are in love, but it's a comfortable love, the sort where they can sit together and know its right.

I did the omake side-story just because I didn't think I should call the story 'Restoration' without some more Uchihas. So, you've been introduced to their five kids, Kyo, Natsuki, Yaemon, Hikari and Yami. 

Stay Frosty


End file.
